Charleston, SC

To visit Charleston, we parked at Lake Aire RV Park in Hollywood, SC, about 12 miles southwest of Charleston. While here we visited downtown Charleston, took a tour out to Fort Sumter and checked out Kiawah Island.

Fort Sumter is on a small island strategically located in the Charleston Harbor. It was originally one of a series of coastal fortifications built by the United States following the War of 1812. It was still unfinished in late 1860 when South Carolina seceded from the United States as a statement about state sovereignty regarding slavery. At this point a garrison of 85 federal troops led by Major Robert Anderson moved to Fort Sumter from nearby Fort Moultrie. Within 4 months Confederate troops fired the first shots of the Civil War by attacking the Federal troops on Fort Sumter. Three days later Major Anderson had to surrender Fort Sumter and was allowed to leave with all of his troops. For the next 20 months Confederate troops held Fort Sumter against repeated assaults from Union cannons and gun ships. Today it is Fort Sumter National Monument.

While in Charleston, we began to realize we would need to change our travel plans due to Hurricane Matthew. We had planned to go to Savannah, GA, next but that would put us too close to the coast and too exposed to potential harm from the hurricane. We postponed our Savannah plans and instead reserved a spot in Statesboro, GA, approximately 55 miles inland from Savannah. Even 3 days ahead of the storm we had trouble finding an available RV spot.